This invention relates in general to reactor vessels and in particular to a new and useful reactor for producing a gas such as methanol in which a vertically elongated cylindrical housing contains a catalyst bed which is permeable to gas and which overlies a bottom and is surrounded by a cylindrical wall in a manner such that the catalyst bed may be removed upwardly through the vessel after the cover is removed.
Such reactors are known in a variety of designs. For example, German OS No. 30 07 203 discloses a reactor of this kind having a cylindrical housing, a catalyst filling within the housing, and exchanger tubes extending through the catalyst bed to conduct a coolant, with the tubes extending within the catalyst bed straightly and substantially parallel to the housing axis. To obtain satisfactorily crowded heating surfaces and a low gas pressure drop at the same time, the exchanger tubes are provided with fins or ribs.